Roughly 1,600 blighted houses in Genesee County could be demolished with $20 million in federal funds

An excavator tears down the last section of an abandoned house on Oklahoma Avenue in Flint's east side in 2011.Flint Journal File Photo

FLINT, MI – Flint and Genesee County officials say federal money to demolish abandoned properties can only mean positive things for the area.

Michigan won approval to spend roughly $100 million
in federal funds to demolish vacant buildings in Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids,
Pontiac and Saginaw.

Doug Weiland, executive director of the Genesee County Land
Bank, said he anticipates that the Flint area will receive as much $20 million, which could take care of 1,600 blighted and vacant homes in Flint and
surround areas.

"That will help us to take care of an awful lot of blighted
houses. It helps improve property values for the surrounding properties. It's
all to the good," Weiland said. "Everybody who's worked on this has been really
diligent to make sure funds are available."

Tearing down vacant houses in deserted areas will also help
reduce crime, he said. Demolition could get started as early as this summer,
Weiland said.

The land bank is working with Flint, Burton, Flint Township,
Genesee Township and Mt. Morris Township, he said.

U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint Township, has been pushing for
demolition funds for years and on Thursday, June 6, they were finally awarded.

"lt's a significant down payment on what we need to do in
America's (hardest hit cities), helping cities like Flint and Saginaw reset
their markets, remove the vacant and abandoned oversupply of substandard
housing," said Kildee. "It's a big step. I'm excited about it."

The Michigan State Housing Development Authority submitted a
draft proposal to the U.S. Treasury earlier this year, reportedly asking that it
be allowed to fund demolitions in five cities using money previously awarded
through the Troubled Asset Relief Program's Hardest Hit Fund.

As the law was previously interpreted, it was unclear
whether state housing authorities, including the Michigan State Housing
Development Authority (MSHDA), could use portions of the federal HHF dollars
for the demolition of residential properties. The HHF was created in 2010 to
aid states most impacted by the recent economic crisis.

Kildee urged Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to approve
Michigan's request to free up close to $100 million for demolitions by sending
him a letter in March requesting he approve the MSHDA proposal. He also introduced
legislation in April that would allow some Hardest Hit dollars to be used for
demolition.

Flint Mayor Dayne Walling said he is anxious for the funds to get final approval, and to get the process moving.

"The city of Flint has a major demolition problem. And it's
definitely going to take outside funding to address all the abandoned
properties," Walling said. "Residents have been living next to abandoned
properties in some cases for years. They deserve the dangerous properties to be
demolitioned."

Although this won't fix all the blight issues, it's an
important step, Kildee said.

And it's about so much more than improving the housing
market, he said.

"I think about the person who wakes up every morning,
walks out to the porch with a cup of coffee in their hand and looks across the
street and sees a vacant, burned-out house," Kildee said. "It's their life.
It's what they look at every day. It's their quality of existence."